North Yakima School Playground Accident Leads to $5,000 Judgment
A court ruling finds a school district liable for injuries sustained on modified playground equipment, sparking concerns about the future of school recreation.
The story, cleaned up
A cleaned-up reading of the newspaper page: spelling and layout repaired, one story lifted off a crowded page. It follows the original closely but it is not a transcription. The original page is below; read it if a detail matters.
A jury in the superior court at North Yakima gave the guardian of Horatio Bruenn, 8 years old, judgment for $5,000 damages against the North Yakima school district for injuries sustained last November while playing on school apparatus. The guardian filed a $10,361 claim against the school board and sued for $15,000 when the claim was rejected. Testimony showed the child was playing on a teeter board removed from the standard and placed across a swing. The case will be appealed. If the verdict is sustained, removal of all apparatus from the public school playgrounds is certain.
“If the verdict is sustained, removal of all apparatus from the public school playgrounds is certain.”
The tension between school playground safety, liability, and the desire for student recreation is a perennial civic argument that continues to shape modern educational facilities.
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